Kenya court nullifies president’s election win

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A lawyer arrives past a line of police guarding the building
ahead of an expected verdict in the presidential election petition at the
Supreme Court in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017.

Kenya’s Supreme Court has nullified President Uhuru Kenyatta’s election win last month and called for new elections within 60 days.

The six-judge bench ruled 4-2 in favor of the petition filed by opposition candidate Raila Odinga. He claimed that the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in favor of Kenyatta. The president had won a second term with 54 percent of the vote.

The court says the Aug. 8 election was not conducted with accordance with the constitution.

Odinga’s lawyer had asked the court to invalidate Kenyatta’s win, saying a scrutiny of the forms used to tally the votes had anomalies that affected nearly 5 million votes.

Lawyers for Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta are calling the Supreme Court’s nullification of last month’s election a “very political decision” but they say they will live with the consequences.

Lead counsel Ahmednassir Abdulahi spoke to the court after the six-judge panel ruled 4-2 in favor of the petition filed by opposition candidate Raila Odinga. Odinga claimed that the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in favor of Kenyatta.